Sewing-machine guide.



K. M. LAGEY. SEWING MACHINE GUIDE; APPLIOA'I'IOH FILED nun. 1a, 1901,

Patented June 29, 1909.

Witnesses Z in: Noll": PITIRS 60,, vusnlndnn. n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

KATHERINE M. LACEY, OF WORCESTET;TTEEEXETTESETTS, ASSIGNQR TO FRANCIS J. MAHONEY, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

SEWING-MACHIN E GUIDE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 29, 1909.

Application filed March 18, 1907. Serial No. 362,993.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, KATHERINE M. LACEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Worcester, in the county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sewing-Machine Guides, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to improvements in guides for sewing machines and more particularly to those carried by the presser foot for guiding the edge of the article being stitched.

The object of the invention is to provide a presser foot with a guide of this character which will securely hold and guide the edge of the article being stitched in a direct line with the needle so as to prevent the latter from running off of or away from the edge, and which is especially adapted for stitching down a tuck or plait over a ruflle or other uneven surface, and stitching braid, ribbon, insertion &c. upon a piece of fabric or other material at any distance from its edge.

With the above and other objects in View, the invention consists in the novel, construction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a presser foot constructed in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same and Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view.

Referring to the drawings by numeral, 1 denotes a presser foot of well known form which may be employed upon a sewing machine of any description and which is of right angular form having an upright arm or standard 2 for attachment to the sewing machine in the usual manner, and also having a lower horizontal arm 3 formed with the usual needle hole or aperture 4. The outer end of the arm 3 is curved u wardly and upon the inner edge of said end is rovided a depending segmentally curved ange or projection 6 which terminates short of the plane of the fiat bottom of the horizontal portion 3 of the foot and extends on an arc parallel with said curved outer end of the arm and serves as a stop flange or shoulder and guide for the article or material being stitched.

The stop flange 6 carries at its lower end an outwardly and laterally projecting guide tongue 7 which latter is flat and arranged substantially parallel with and beneaththe upturned end 5 of the foot, so that in connection with said end it forms a loop for the reception of the tuck, ribbon or the like to be stitched. Since the guide tongue 7 is sub stantially parallel with the curved end 5 of the foot, said tongue will have an upward and outward inclination at an oblique angle to the horizontal plane aa of the bottom of the arm 3, as seen in Fig. 2, so that its upper surface will guide the tuck or ribbon while its lower or bottom surface will guide the foundation fabric or material on which the tuck or ribbon is stitched and its lower edge 7 a will form a bearing surface to directly engage and hold said foundation fabric flat. Owing to the inclination of the bottom face of the tongue 7, it will be seen that the presser foot is especially adapted for stitching a tuck, plait, ribbon or any other overlay upon a foundation fabric having a ruffled or uneven surface. The latter could not be accomplished were the tongue 7 horizontally disposed and without its inclined bottom surface, which latter guides the ruflies upon the foundation fabric and gradually presses them downward until they encounter the bearing edge 7 which holds the ruffles substantially flat so that the fabric will pass easily and smoothly beneath the presserfoot, as will be readily understood.

It will be observed that while the stop flange is substantially coextensive in lengt with the curved end of the arm 3 and extends from the outer extremity of the arm to the forward end of the needle aperture the guide tongue 7 is of less width than the length of said flan e. A portion 6 of the flange thus extends etween the lower bearing edge of the tongue and a point adjacent the forward end. of the needle aperture, and this portion of the flange is cut away at its lower edge on an arc eccentric to the upturned end of the arm to lie slightly above the plane of the bearing edge 7 and to provide a space 6 above the bed-plate of the machine and be tween said edge 7 and the presser-foot of greater length and a little greater depth than the space between the bed-plate and the bearing edge. By this construction and the peculiar sha e and inclination of the guide plate 7 whic 1 lies above the horizontal plane a-a of the bottom of the horizontal portion of the arm 3, the foundation fabric and overlay are guided so as to meet easily beneath the inner or lower portion of the upturned end of the arm and are brought snugly to gether and prevented from binding, the space beneat i such portion of the arm allowing the fabrics to adjust themselves to each other and the fullness of the foundation fabric to pass beneath the presser-foot without interference.

As it is the tendency of the fabrics to be deflected upward or full up toward the upturned end 5 said upturned end 5, flange portion 6 and tongue portion 7, b which they are lightly held, to a position neath the presser-foot, by which they are more closely held against the bed-plate, the advantage of the spaces beneath the inner portion of the upturned end and the flange portion 6 will be apparent. As a result, the foundation fabric and overlay will be permitted to become slightly deflected up into said spaces between the outer end of the presser-foot and the bearing surface 7 thus preventin their tendency to bind, which would be he le to occur if they were not allowed to have freedom of up-movement at this point to adjust tfhemselves for passage beneath the presseroot.

While my improved construction of the presser foot renders it especially adapted for use upon a ruflled or other uneven surface, it will be noted that it can be used 11 on a plain surface and upon either light or eavy material.

A further advantage of my improved presser foot is that it requires no adjustment for different kinds of work and it need not be removed when the presser foot has to be used in the ordinary manner without a guide.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is:

A combined presser foot and guide comprisin a vertical attaching standard carrying a orizontal arm forming a presser foot, said arm having its outer end undivided and bodily curved upward and having a needle aperture at the point of intersection of its horizontal and curved portions, a segmentally curved and vertically disposed stop flange integral with and depending from the inner edge of the curved end of said arm and extending between the extremit of the curved end and the outer end of the needle aperture, said flange having its outer end extending on an arc concentric with said curved end and having its inner end cut away at its lower edge on an arc eccentric to said curved end, and an outwardly and laterally project ing transverse guide tongue integral at its inner end with the lower edge of the outer end of said flange and extending beneath the extremity of the curved end. of the arm, said tongue consisting of a flat plate having its free end terminating in line with the outer longitudinal edge of the arm and spaced therefrom to form an entrance to the intervenin guide channel and having its lower edge orming a bearing surface terminating above the horizontal portion of the arm and below the outer portion of the inner end of the fla e, the up er and lower faces of said tongue eing inc ined upwardly and outwardly at an oblique an le to the plane of the bottom of the horizonta portion of the arms, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

KATHERINE M. LACEY.

Witnesses:

AGNES E. CARLIsL JOHN LUBY. 

